MEET THE QUEST ZINE!

We are thrilled to announce the premier edition of the Quest Zine: The Attention Issue. Scheduled to make its debut in January, this will be the first iteration of our latest experiment at Quest HQ. To find out how it all started, where it is going, or how to get a copy, read on!

HOW

HOW IT ALL STARTED

In 2016, we published our first booklet. Created as a companion to the Quest, Oxford Edition it was part guide, part journal, part workbook, and all experimentation.

The process of creating the book was designed to mirror the structure of The Quest. Experimental, improvised, curious and time-specific. The twenty-eight page book was produced within a 72-hour time frame and, just to make things a bit more complicated, with the exception of one page of printed text, all the content was handwritten and illustrated. During the process, mistakes were made, design ideas changed, content was added, content was removed, content that was envisioned was never made and whatever the state it was in, when the timer went off, the book was done, assembled, scanned, and sent to the printer and it was done.

Why? Because if during the Quest, particpants are asked to go out into the world with an experimental mindset: try things, see what happens, try more things or keep doing the same thing, look, listen, respond, react. The book was meant to do mirror that experimental process in paper form.

Never underestimate the power of imperfect action.

Only fifty copies of the book were printed. Because each Quest is meant to be a singular experience (sure it can be repeated but it will never be the same experience twice), it seemed appropriate to create book that was unique, created specifically for that workshop, and once all the copies were distributed, would never be printed again. In the header image, you see the only four remaining copies of the book that we have here at Quest HQ.

WHAT

WHAT EXACTLY IT IS

What is a zine you ask? Derived from the word magazine, zines are independently or self-published booklets or periodicals, often created by one person. At Quest HQ we are indeed independent, we are self-published, but we are a team of two. For a great overview of the history of Zines, cruise on over to Fred Wright’s fascinating article on The History and Characteristics of Zines

Why A Zine?

For Quest workshops, each workshop is called an edition, either named for the city where it is being held or for the focus/theme of the workshop: the Quest: Chicago edition or The Quest: Creative Workers Edition. The idea with the book/journal/guide was similar, each would be an limited edition, created to be enjoyed in conjunction with a workshop.

Great idea right Alas, with more and more workshops happening, it proved to be a bit unsustainable, thus the Quest Zine was born.

So What About the Quest Zine?

Created to augment the content of the workshop of The Quest and also be interesting on its own, each zine will be organized around a theme related to The Quest and will include exercises, observations, relevant resources, and research, suggestions, provocations, and other experiments. We haven’t written them yet, so we can’t say exactly what will be in them. Let’s just say they will all be unique, experimental, and printed in finite numbers. Once the actual printed copies are gone, they are gone (and right now there are now plans to make it available on-line).

WHERE

WHERE TO GET A COPY

If you are participating in one of our upcoming workshops, you will get a copy as part of the workshop! Yay. We will also be offering copies for sale via our website. Sales will begin in mid-January and end in mid-February with all orders being shipped from Hong Kong, so delivery will take about two weeks. More details coming soon!